Coldspell is a Swedish band that I've followed closely
since their highly promising demos. Since the demos have only had a
few tracks it's always interesting to see if a band can keep it up for
an entire album. "Infinite Stargaze" kicks off with an instantaneous
seventies oriented big phat kick in the private parts with opener "Keep
On Believin".

But, does it stop there? The answer is an equally big
and phat - NO! The train keeps a rolling. It's great to hear a band
that can keep the pace and quality at a high level track after track.
This reminds me a bit of The Quill on their earlier stuff before they
went more stoner, but it feels like Coldspell have done what The Quill
never did, which is to refine the sound, the songs and style to perfection
instead of switching musical track.

Singer Niclas Swedentorp actually reminds me a bit of
The Quill's Magnus Ekwall mixed with former, long lost, Fifth Angel
front man (now dentist) Ted Pilot, as he also has the same type of clean
and penetrating voice. It fits perfectly to the guitar/keyboard driven
wall of sound the band delivers. Tracks like the outstandingly heavy
and riff-oriented "Eye Of The Storm" at times reminds me a
bit of a heavier Led Zeppelin, especially in the vocal arrangements.
Michael Larsson is a great bluesy, yet technical guitar player fitting
the style perfectly.

In "Straight Things Out" they take on a more
southern tinged eighties touch, a bit like vintage Tesla or Tattoo Rodeo.
This album also takes me back a bit to all those outstanding bands and
albums that were shelved only because a certain trio from Seattle made
the business decide melodic heavy rock was to be cast out, killed and
extinguished. Well, fuck 'em, Coldspell brings back the long lost glory
of bands that should have been, like Black Bambi, Arti Tisi etc. (even
though I doubt these guys have even heard of said bands).

I also came to think a bit of the 1987 Whitesnake in tracks
like "Surrounded", but properly updated and fixed to the personal
Coldspell perfection. Another band that came to mind a bit in this track
and in some other spots is vintage TNT. This is starting to sound like
a list of some of my favourite bands. Did I mention this is one hell
of a great band? Debut of the year, no doubt about it!